Clear approach to money making

In the Mahabharat, a celestial being (yaksha) puts a question to Yudhistira (Dharmaputra), ���What is the greatest wonder on earth?��� Yudhistira replies, ���The fact that even on seeing many die, most feel that inevitability of death is not applicable to them���. In a similar manner, it is indeed a wonder that even after observing that unregulated and unscrupulous attempts at accumulating money brings untold damage and suffering, everyone is still eager to jump on to the bandwagon.

Resting contented is indeed rare in humans! A song (Lyrics by Thirunayanar Kurichi), in a 1961 Malayalam film, Bhakta Kuchela, observes: ���On getting ten, man thirsts for hundred, he then longs to make the hundred to grow into one thousand and later wants this thousand to become ten thousand. Indeed, there is no limit for man���s desire in this world���.

It is true that making a living is necessary and applies very much, especially for those who have no great resources to fall back upon. It is also one���s duty to provide material needs and comforts to his kith and kin and also for the future. In this pursuit, it would also often be necessary to strain and toil with inevitable damage to health. But then, the ceaseless and frenzied drive for money making and more and more money making, affects even those who have enough and who, perhaps driven by habitual instincts, still drive themselves on needlessly, often adopting abominable and unfair means too.

In the above regard, a tale from ancient Indian scriptures talks about a robber. Once, a sage, a potential victim, asked him why he was committing such heinous sins. The robber replied: ���For my wife and children, who will do anything for me���. The sage, then asked the robber to go back to his family and ask them if they would, indeed, share his sins, accrued thus. Overconfident, the robber asked this question to his family and received the answer: ���No, we only want your loot, as it is your duty to provide for us; your sins have to be borne only by yourself���. Wisdom dawned thereafter on this repentant sinner.

Applied to many who strain and struggle, for what they themselves may not be sure of, simple contemplation would reveal that there also exists a case for expanding one���s horizon to hark at and see the many sublime avenues of life and living, which beckon the soul. These islets of joy, peace and fulfilment would serve to add meaning to all efforts at aggrandisement and accumulation and also suggest as to when and where to draw the line.